The Debate is Over…
10 April 2025…and the motion has been carried: “That this House declares St. Conleth’s to be the greatest debating school in the land!” Finley O’Dea (as is his wont) laid a few quid down at Paddy Power as the Conlethian contingent at the Leinster Senior Schools Debating Final was his little wager come up trumps (can we still say that?). Of course it did! After all, Conlethians in debating finals are like the Claudians of Ancient Roman politics: they are so ubiquitous (and qualified) that it is difficult not to vote for one! Of the select Leinster finalists, Finley and Senan Corry, as individuals, and the team Anna Carroll and Brooke O’Connor, chosen after many gruelling rounds, were Conlethian, and the night belonged to them, especially Finley who, when all the point-making, barracking, theatrical grimacing and petulant posturing were over, was the only one left at the rostrum… and ready to receive his laurel!
Finley will now join a panoply of Conlethian debating legends in the great debating hall in the sky (or The Law Library): Turlough Dineen, The Wards, Kennedy, The O’Dwyers, Collins, White…(We’d better keep going!).. Roche, Quinn, The Prasifkae, Costigan, Hegarty, Nolan...tbc… And this list is not (just) a vain attempt to reference Aeneas’s vision in Hades of inspiring Roman greats, for the vibrant connection with St. Conleth’s debating legacy is very much a driving force for our continued success, as is Adrianne Ward, our brilliant current debating coach and current Irish Times Debate champion. And now that we have the biggest debating trophy in Ireland in the cabinet again, let us turn our attention to the truly titanous oratorical tangles: the Conlethian in-house debates!